Have the boat to ourselves again this morning as most other passengers are off and catching up with places we have been. We are on the move up river and will collect them along the way.
The Miguel Torga is 80m long, 11.4m wide and carries 132 passengers. We only have a passenger complement of 95, so plenty of room and very relaxed. As I write this para, we are the only two people on the Sun Deck. We will get to our first lock in about 1 hour - and now I am off for a scotch.
Over the journey we will pass through 5 locks (twice each). We went through the first this morning and the second this afternoon - Carrapatelo's Lock, 36m high, the highest in Europe. Quite spectacular, and all table's, chairs etc had to be lowered. We could sit on the sun lounges and had about 80cm clearance. Shortly after we passed under a very low bridge with just under 50cm clearance.
Most passengers were on the Sun Deck, but sadly, many of those in bikinis would not have passed even the most basic "qualification to wear" criteria.
The river has ranged from about 50m to 500m wide with small villages every couple of km. Railway line runs just above the river bank on one side. Lots of boating, pools, kayaks, jet skis etc all along the river and lots of kids jumping in off platforms, rocks etc. Beautiful day with drinks being regularly served. Very, very steep rises from the river to the top of the valley and so much of it under cultivation. Beginning to get into wine country and docked at Peso da Regua just after 7pm.
Another excellent dinner, following which we took a brief walk around town as darkness approached. A spot of dancing for the dancing queen before hitting the cot. 39C forecast for tomorrow as we take a tour of Vila Real and Casa de Mateus (seen on the label of every bottle of Mateus Rose).
I thought that scotch usually went with lochs but I see that "locks" also apply!
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